"Porphyria worshipped me; surprise made my heart swell, and still it grew while I debated what to do" (page 663). After reading Elizabeth's poems, I could not wait to read what Robert Browning had to write. However, his style of writing is so different from hers in that Elizabeth's writings surrounds the theme of true everlasting love, pure love. Whereas his work, though brilliantly done had several twist to it, which kept my eyes glued to the pages wanting to see what would happen next. This was the case in "Porphyria's Lover". Just reading the line mentioned at the beginning of this blog, which was taken from "Porphyria's Lover", one would get the impression that this was going to be the best love story ever. However, this monologue was one of twisted love, murder and madness and the mental state of the speaker is quite disturbing.
The speaker starts off the poem by creating the backdrop for the scene. Here the storm rages showing nature at its worst. Ripping the branches from the trees and overflowing the lake as stated in these words, "The rain set early in to-night, the sullen wind was soon awake, it tore the elm-tops down for spite and did its worst to vex the lake (page 662, lines 1-4). Then the speaker continues with the words, "When glided in Porphyria; straight she shut the cold out..made the cheerless grate blaze up, and all the cottage warm (lines 6-8). I was a little upset after reading these lines because here was this man sitting in this cold cottage with his lover out in the storm all unconcerned. She had to come home to start the fire in order for the cottage to be warm, while he was just sitting there. How inconsiderate of him.
"At last, she sat down by my side and called me. When no voice replied, she put my arm about her waist, and made her smooth white shoulder bare....her yellow hair (Lines 14-20). It seems as he was very upset with her because the speaker used the words, "at last". Was he upset because she did not acknowledge him first after coming into the cottage or was there some lingering problems. The latter I assume. However, unaware of what was the problem, the speaker's lover embraces the speaker, offering him her bare shoulder. He tells us that he did not speak to her because he is upset. She then further tries to console him by telling him how she loved him in these words, "Murmuring how she loved me...to set its struggling passion free...and give herself to me forever (page 663, lines 21-25) and although he cannot believe it, she does care for him.
He then realized that Porphyria wants to be with him, but he is not sure if he can trust her. So he tries to convince himself if he can really trust her by looking in her eyes as stated in these lines, "Be sure I looked up at her eyes, happy and proud; at last I knew Porphyria worshipped me; surprise made my heart swell, and still it grew while I debated what to do" (lines 31-35). Then the speaker realized that she really loved him but he had already made up his mind of what he was going to do. Even though at that moment he had second thoughts and several things ran through his mind, "does she really loves me ", "Is this love forever" he still decided to kill her. What a heartless person this speaker was, even when he was convinced that she loved him he still carried out his plans.
Then the speaker continued with these words, "That moment she was mine..in one long yellow string I wound three times her little throat around, and strangled her (lines 36-41). Here the speaker carried out his plans and killed her and as if he was trying to validate what he had done, he stated that "No pain felt she, I am quite sure she felt no pain." Finally, even though he knew that she was dead, he started making a mockery of the dead corps. We are given this image of a man sitting with Porphyria's dead body against his all night long with her head on his shoulder and her eyes open. In my opinion, I think this man was sick and further more he had the audacity of saying in the final line of the poem, "And yet God has not said a word." It was as if he was implying that God was pleased with what he had done.
I am sorry I got a little carried away at the end but I was a little upset. I must admit, Robert Browning was a brilliant poet. He did a brilliant job in this piece, "Porphyria's Lover". Even though I was a bit upset with what the speaker had done, all in all it was just poetry.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Anthony,
I really thought you had a lot of insights in your analysis of "porphyria's lover." You described each stanza wonderfully. I was glad to read the part where you mentioned "I was a little upset after reading these lines because here was this man sitting in this cold cottage with his lover out in the storm all unconcerned. She had to come home to start the fire in order for the cottage to be warm, while he was just sitting there. How inconsiderate of him." I haven t thought of it this way but I totally agree with you. That is not a gentleman's move to do. He shows to be a male chauvinist there... Is it where the reader should be interpellated about this guy's attitude? More than likely I think!!
Great job throughout the whole post! I wanted to focus on that part because that is the only thing we did not really have in common in our writings.
Anthony,
Very good response to and discussion of Browning's dramatic monologue. One factor that sort of explains (but certainly doesn't forgive) the speaker's murderous act is that she is either engaged or married to someone else--that is implied by the line about the "vainer ties" Porphyria will not sever. So when she is his, and worships him, he knows that the moment will pass unless he does something to make it last forever, and he kills her so she will never leave him, and never be less in love with him. Pretty sick, yes, but perhaps a bit understandable, and that is what Browning wants the reader to do-imagine seeing through the insane murderer's perspective.
I had never thought about the issue of trust in Porphyria's Lover. That was a wonderful detail. It made me think: Did the narrator question if he trusted her enough to kill her and she not tell his secret (after death, of course)? Would her murder be the best kept secret between the two? Wow! That point alone got me reading that poem again. Good job!
I love that you focus on trust in Porphyria’s Lover. It was a delight to read. This poem also has deceit and murder. With this element of trust one has to think did her trust her enough to kill with her. There is an overwhelming and covering sense of love, but can love really exist amongst murder? I think that passion can exist, and cause murder in a jealous type of rage, but love? Love can cause death, but love can’t cause murder. Great Job!
Post a Comment